New Hanover County resident Doug Walker got an unexpected call Tuesday morning, seemingly from the New Hanover County Sheriff’s office.
The scam caller claimed Walker had a warrant out for his arrest for failing to report for jury duty, and said he had a signed jury duty notice from Walker.
This alarmed Walker at first, since he travels for work often. Did he miss a notice in the mail? The two callers pretended to be a lieutenant and a deputy, Walker said.
“He was American, and he sounded like a cop, quite honestly, very militant, you know? Okay, yeah, my wife saying African American," Walker said. "And then with my sister, they put on a lieutenant that was sounded like a Southern white guy, probably, you know kind of good cop, bad cop. ”
The scammers even prompted him to Google the number they were calling from to confirm that it matched the Sheriff’s Department line. It did.
But after further probing, Walker and his wife (who was listening in on the call) realized things didn’t add up.
“We kept asking the officer's name, and he kept changing the name. I think it was John Bear or something, J-O-N, and then he spelled it B-R- E- A- R, and then he changed it to Brew or something, B -R- E- W. So that was kind of fishy. It definitely sounded like a scam from the beginning. But you know, you never know when it's the Sheriff's calling now," he said.
The caller claimed Walker would be arrested if he set foot on government property. Walker eventually hung up, after the caller urged him to stay on the line, and immediately went to the Sheriff’s Office.
“No, no, don't hang up. He didn't want us to hang up. They wanted to stay on the line so that we don't run down there, you know? And so we just hung up and went down there, in person. And that's when we discovered it was a scam. And they said, usually, that's when they would ask for money, and that's what they did to my sister," he said.
Walker’s sister, who also lives in New Hanover County, was contacted moments after his phone call. The callers insisted she wire them $4,000 and threatened to arrest her if she failed to do so.
It seemed as if the callers were working down a list in alphabetical order, Walker said. And since he and sister own property in Wilmington, the callers were able to get their addresses.
“So it's just frightening, and then you get angry when you realize it's a scam. I can imagine the people who fall for it, who actually pay the money, they probably wouldn't even come forward because they're embarrassed and angry. So that's part of the reason I wanted to come forward and just let people know it's out there," he said.
The Public Information Officer of the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office, Lieutenant Jerry Brewer, said this has been an ongoing problem for the agency for about three years now.
He was not surprised that someone was calling pretending to be him.
“We've sent out press releases and things like that in the past. I mean, this is, this is ongoing all day, every day," he said.
Brewer said these scammers call from overseas using a number cloning app, and they usually ask for money in cash, through wire transfer, or in the form of a gift card.
“I mean, that's the part about not being able to track them, is because they are from overseas. That's why they always ask for gift cards. It's, usually a lot of times it's the elderly. You know, we just have to hammer it home. We've sent out multiple social media posts and press releases about not giving out money over the phone and to call the Sheriff's Office to check," he said.
Brewer said the Sheriff’s Office never asks for money over the phone, if that happens it’s more than likely a scam.
Walker reported the scam call to non-emergency dispatch. The dispatcher who was on the phone with Walker mentioned that they too received a similar scam call on their personal phone number.
The dispatcher advised Walker to report any further calls on the North Carolina Department of Justice’s website at NCDOJ.org.
